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"Remember what we have discussed! Do not scatter and stray too far from your assigned group!" Menerva reminded as she removed the large bow from her back and planted it firmly into the ground.

Menerva understood that this kind of enclosed environment was unsuitable for her class. After all, her class excelled at incredibly long-range attacks that were meant to annihilate mostly stationary enemies in one shot.

Needless to say, facing off against quick-moving creatures like the Night Terror Shadow Beasts at this close of a range was far from ideal for Menerva. However, she was not just standing thoughtless at the entrance. When Menerva noticed the type of environment they would be fighting in, naturally, she started to formulate ways to somewhat make up for her class\' shortcomings.

"I\'ll watch your back, Lieutenant. So, just do whatever you need to. I won\'t let these monsters lay a single finger on you. Or, well, claw." One of the 9th Division members, Knightmare, stated.

Knightmare was a young man who appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties. He had short light brown hair and a pair of light silver eyes. He stood nearly two meters tall and wore a full set of heavy-plated armor that was a mixture of dark grey and silver. He held a long kite shield in his left hand and a straight one-handed long sword in his right.

Knightmare was one of the individuals chosen by Menerva to be a part of her Squadron. And, currently, Menerva entrusted him with guarding her while she used her bow.

"Once I complete the necessary arrangements, you may join the others and carry out the next phase of what we discussed beforehand. Until then, I trust that you will accomplish the task I have assigned you without fault." Menerva said calmly as multiple chains shot out from her bow and pierced into the ground.

Meanwhile, Niflheim, Halls, Guan Yu, and the others who acted as the vanguard engaged with the Night Terror Shadow Beasts.

Bang!

Niflheim crashed his shield into one of the creatures and interrupted its sneaky strike on one of the lightning soldiers, sending it sliding back several meters.

The lightning soldier Niflheim guarded turned its head and looked at him briefly. It then gave a small nod before shifting its focus back ahead.

Niflheim was a little surprised by the lightning soldier\'s acknowledgment. He assumed that they were just bundles of mindless energy summoned by Izroth; however, it seemed that they were not completely devoid of thought.

Although the lightning soldiers were just conjured beings, after Niflheim witnessed their strength firsthand, he determined that keeping them alive would prove to be a tremendous advantage.

"I don\'t know exactly what these lightning creatures are, but their strength seems to be roughly on par with a player around level 40—maybe even a bit higher. However, the discipline behind their movements and teamwork are well above what the average player is capable of displaying. As long as we work together with them, it will help ease the burden placed on the 9th Division and 5th Unit." Niflheim thought to himself.

Before their arrival, the lightning soldiers were outnumbered by the Night Terror Shadow Beasts; therefore, no matter how good their teamwork was, there were blindspots that they could not cover. However, now that the 9th Division and 5th Unit had joined the battle, the scales quickly began to tip in their favor.

Woosh!

Guan Yu swung his guandao outward as an ancient blue aura from his erupted blade and swept over a group of nearby Night Terror Shadow Beasts.

Gwraaaah! Gwraaaah! BOOM!

When the ancient blue aura collided with the creatures, it caused a strong and concentrated explosion to occur at their location as the surrounding area fractured.

"These things are pretty sturdy!" Guan Yu commented as he witnessed the Night Terror Shadow Beasts he had just struck swiftly jump back to their feet and resume their assault.

BANG!

At the last moment, Halls stepped in front of Guan Yu and lifted his shield. As the creatures pressed forward with their attacks without concern and struck Halls\' shield, a thin aura encompassed it as the Night Terror Shadow Beasts were blown back tens of meters after the impact.

"Their attack power is also no joke. I wonder if our brother\'s group can hold up against these things." Halls\' stated with furrowed brows.

"Heh, do you really think our brother would take in a group of useless people? If they can\'t handle this much, then they don\'t deserve to stand next to our brother on the battlefield." Guan Yu responded in a straightforward manner.

As Halls and Guan Yu carried on with their attack, Lances and Noir were locked in a battle against Marquis Varokin, and the two Nameless Vretis Mind Dolls. However, they were not alone as Commander Sagarus of Izroth\'s lightning army joined their battle.

eaglesnovɐ1,сoМ Lances clashed with Marquis Varokin and, at a glance, the two seemed pretty evenly matched. However, it was clear that both sides had yet to reveal their true hand.

As for the Nameless Vretis Mind Dolls, Noir was facing one alone, while the other was being taken care of by Commander Sagarus.

Just as their names implied, the Vretis expressed no emotions and showed no signs of pain or discomfort when struck. Because of this, the Nameless Vretis Mind Dolls fought in a reckless way with complete disregard for their own safety. Naturally, this increased the amount of pressure placed on Noir as the Vretis he clashed with battled in a way that did not mind the exchange of its life for his.

Of course, Noir had no plans of sitting back and allowing the Vretis to do whatever it pleased; therefore, he swiftly shifted his approach.

"I suppose this is as far as it goes. A shame—I was looking forward to more of a challenge." Noir said as his gaze turned cold and the sharp aura around his scimitar abruptly spiked to a frightening degree.

He then continued, "Facing a mindless beast... How dull."

Swish! Swish!

In the blink of an eye, the aura around Noir\'s scimitar vanished as he made two blinding movements with his blade.

Phhhtk!

Out of nowhere, the right arm of the Nameless Vretis Mind Doll fell to the ground as it had been cleanly severed!

Reinforce—just like Izroth\'s Might stat; it was a hidden stat not obtainable by normal means. The Reinforce stat was not a defensive-type skill as one would think. Nor did it improve the actual damage of one\'s attacks—instead, the Reinforce stat focused on one thing—sharpness. Not just any kind of sharpness, but one that was capable of cutting through anything in existence.

That\'s why, even though the stat did not boost Noir\'s overall damage output, it granted him a terrifying passive that enabled him to reach 12th place on the event leaderboards. This passive was called The Great Bisect.

As long as Noir placed a clean cut on a target with his scimitar, he could effortlessly sever things into two parts. This meant that if Noir cut an opponent\'s neck or torso, The Great Bisect would bypass damage output and instantly transform the strike into an instant kill!

Noir whistled and said to himself, "I was aiming for its neck, but it reacted faster than I anticipated. Here I thought it was totally mindless. I guess it doesn\'t want to die without taking me down with it. Well, that\'s too bad—since I have no intention of dying to mere fodder."

As Noir gained the upper hand against his Vretis, Commander Sagarus had already completely suppressed the Nameless Vretis Mind Doll he was facing off against.

The Vretis was still alive; however, it was not able to move as it had been charred beyond recognition and stayed sprawled out on the ground.

Sagarus turned his gaze towards the staircase. There, at the top, he saw Izroth standing just a few steps away from the Duke. It looked as if the two were exchanging words; however, to Sagarus, this was of no concern.

Bzzzzt! Crrrckle!

Sagarus turned his attention back to the battlefield as he raised his sword towards the air and called forth dark clouds with purple lightning surging through them.

...

Meanwhile, atop the staircase...

When Izroth arrived before the Duke, he felt a huge pressure descend upon him. But, he remained unmoved.

Noticing that Izroth was unaffected, the Duke opened his eyes and gazed upon him.

"Young human brat, your insolence knows no bounds." Duke Zareign said as he left his meditative pose and his feet touched the ground.